This invention relates generally to printers and facsimile devices, and more particularly to printers and facsimile devices and their operation which are combined together to form a multiple-function product.
Facsimile devices (i.e., fax machines) have been used for many years to transmit documents containing text or graphical images through a modem via telephone lines through another modem to a remote destination. In its basic form, a conventional fax machine is used for three separate functions: sending a first document; receiving a second document; and producing a hardcopy printout of the second document. Of course the hardcopy printout is not the actual second document but rather a close facsimile thereof. Thus, sending the contents of the second document via fax avoids going to the trouble, expense and delay of actually delivering the second document to a remote destination.
An enhanced fax machine can also be used to perform two additional functions: producing a hardcopy printout of the first document; and producing a hardcopy printout of a cumulative report showing an itemized listing of date, time, and destination for first documents sent from the fax machine.
It is therefore apparent that a fax machine acts primarily as both a sender (i.e., scanning and transmitting) and receiver of documents, and that the fax machine also acts secondarily as a printer (i.e., printing a facsimile of a second document, printing a copy of a scanned first document, or printing an itemized report) and secondarily as a convenience copier (i.e., scanning/printing a first document).
Both the basic fax machine and the enhanced fax machine just described have used two separate paper paths. One path is dedicated to the first document and typically includes document feeder tray, document paper pick/paper drive system, document scanning station, and document output. Another path is dedicated to the printout (originally roll-fed, now sheet-fed) and typically includes sheet feeder tray, sheet paper pick/sheet drive system, sheet printing station, and sheet output. As a result, a fax machine is a bulky, expensive multiple-function device which requires a large number of parts for duplicate paper handling functions.